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UBE announces 2017 election results

Kenny wins StudCo president, Honor amendment fails to pass

<p>Thirty-eight percent of students casted votes in the StudCo presidential election while 43 percent of students casted a vote in the overall spring election.</p>

Thirty-eight percent of students casted votes in the StudCo presidential election while 43 percent of students casted a vote in the overall spring election.

Following an election season containing several contested elections as well as five total Honor and UJC referenda, the University Board of Elections released the results of the spring University elections Thursday evening.

Third-year College student Sarah Kenny defeated third-year Batten student Kelsey Kilgore in this year’s election for Student Council president, with Kenny earning 82.5 percent of the votes. A total number of 8,834 votes were counted in the race.

“I am humbled, I am honored, I am excited to get to work for the student body,” Kenny said. “I am incredibly blessed to have … the support from so many people throughout this campaign.”

Kenny said she received a great amount of support both personally and emotionally and is thankful to Kilgore for running in the campaign.

“I commend Kelsey for running and I think she really added a lot to this campaign,” Kenny said.

Kilgore declined to comment.

Turnout for the Student Council presidential election reached 38.8 percent of students casting a ballot in the election — a significant increase from 24.8 percent turnout in the 2016 race.

UBE Chair and third-year College student Casey Schmidt said overall voter turnout for the spring elections was 43 percent, which is higher than recent years.

“I think that one of the things I really wanted to focus on as chair this year was increasing voter turnout, increasing the number of candidates, generally increasing the election spirit — and I think that that really did manifest itself this year,” Schmidt said. “When you stepped on Grounds this year during election season, you knew an election was going on.”

UBE implemented several changes for this election cycle aimed at increasing participation, such as organizing polling stations.

Other Student Council positions included vice president for administration and vice president for organizations, which were won by second-year College student Alex Cintron and second-year College student Ty Zirkle, respectively. Both elections were uncontested.

Second- and Third-Year Council elections included several contested races.

First-year College student Omar Elhaj was elected Second-Year Council president with 61.6 percent of the vote. Second-Year Council vice president, which was uncontested, was won by first-year College student Allison Kammerman.

Third-Year Council president was won by second-year College student Galen Green with 52.6 percent of the vote, and second-year College student Rebecca Soistmann won Third-Year Council vice president with 55.1 percent of the vote.

Green said she wants Third-Year Class Council to amplify the voice of the third-year class to make more third-years feel welcome at the University.

“I see Class Council as power for good and for good change and I think that is what Rebecca and I really want to see,” Green said.

Soistmann said because she’s never campaigned for an elected position at the University, the campaign was difficult.

“I’ve had the pleasure of knowing a lot of people who have run for office before and they’ve been very helpful in guiding me through all the steps and recommending certain things,” Soistmann said. “I’ve had the most incredible network of people that have helped me with a majority of the footwork, so that was awesome.”

Third-year Batten students Malcolm Stewart and Diane D'Costa were elected Fourth-Year Trustees president and vice president, respectively. Both ran uncontested.

In addition to University leadership positions, several referenda from both Honor and UJC were on the ballot.

The Honor Democratization Amendment, which would lower the majority threshold needed to amend the Honor constitution from 60 percent to 55 percent, failed to pass, receiving only 46.62 percent of the vote.

UJC had four referenda on the ballot that were centered around clarifying ambiguities and language within the UJC constitution. All four referenda passed and received between 79 to 85 percent of the vote.

Full results:

Student Council

Student Council President - Sarah Kenny

Student Council Vice President for Administration - Alex Cintron

Student Council Vice President for Organizations - Ty Zirkle

Student Council School of Architecture Representative - No candidate

Student Council College of Arts & Sciences Representative - Eddie Lin, David Birkenthal, Austin Gogal, Cat Wyatt, Lukas Pietrzak, Ian Ware, Ellie Brasacchio, Allison Kammerman, Oliver Yan, Nathan John and Chi Chan

Student Council Undergraduate Batten Representative - No candidate

Student Council Graduate Batten Representative - Emmanuel Vega

Student Council Undergraduate Commerce Representative - No candidate

Student Council Graduate Commerce Representative - No candidate

Student Council Undergraduate Continuing & Professional Studies Representative - No candidate

Student Council Graduate Continuing & Professional Studies Representative - No candidate

Student Council Undergraduate Education Representative - Mollie Przybocki

Student Council Graduate Education Representative - Shannon Hill

Student Council Undergraduate Engineering & Applied Sciences Representative - Chapman Monroe, Shivani Saboo and Rohit Rustagi

Student Council Graduate Engineering & Applied Sciences Representative - Farzad Shafiei Dizaji

Student Council Medicine Representative - No candidate

Student Council Undergraduate Nursing Representative - Katie Yung

Student Council Graduate Nursing Representative - No candidate

Second-Year Council

Second-Year President - Omar Elhaj

Second-Year Vice President - Allison Kammerman

Third-Year Council

Third-Year President - Galen Green

Third-Year Vice President - Rebecca Soistmann

Fourth-Year Trustees

Fourth-Year Trustees President - Malcolm Stewart

Fourth-Year Trustees Vice President - Diane D'Costa

Honor Committee Representatives

Honor Architecture Representative - Kelly O'Meara and Kyle Gename

Honor Arts & Sciences Representatives - Attiya Latif, Sarah Killian, Devin Rossin, Jeffrey Warren and Christopher Benos

Honor Batten Representatives - Lucie Oken and Dijanni Hodges

Honor Commerce Representatives - Austin Goode and Zachary Diamond

Honor Continuing & Professional Studies Representative - George Maris

Honor Undergraduate Education Representative - Tori Spivey

Honor Graduate Education Representative - No candidate

Honor Engineering and Applied Sciences Representatives - Brandt Welch and William Rainey

Honor Medicine Representatives - Ory Streeter and Hannah Chacon

Honor Nursing Representative - Tamia Walker-Atwater

University Judicial Committee Representatives

Judiciary Architecture Representative - Jordan Richardson and James Strong

Judiciary Arts & Sciences Representative - Jordan Arnold, Jack Brake and Alexander Abramenko

Judiciary Batten Representative - Ellie Wood

Judiciary Commerce Representative - Kimberly Flintsch Medina and Stephen Lincoln

Judiciary Continuing & Professional Studies Representative - No candidate

Judiciary Undergraduate Education Representative - Al Ahmed

Judiciary Graduate Education Representative - Caroline Harvey

Judiciary Engineering & Applied Sciences Representative - Dan Donovan and Kevin Warshaw

Judiciary Medicine Representative - Brielle Gerry

Judiciary Nursing Representative - Lauren Brill

Architecture School Council

Architecture School Council President - Joshua Gritz

Architecture School Council Vice President - Jordan Richardson

Architecture School Council Secretary - Kelly O'Meara

Architecture School Council Treasurer - Kim Corral

Education Council

Education Council President - Sarah Benson

Education Council Vice President & Treasurer - Alexis Fowkes

Education Council Academic Affairs Chair - Katie Delis

Education Council Communications Chair - Emily O'Brien

Education Council Undergraduate Community Service Chair - Leah Coleman

Education Council Undergraduate Inter-school Relations Chair - No candidate

Education Council Undergraduate Social Chair - No candidate

Education Council Undergraduate Scholarship and Professional Development Chair - No candidate

Education Council Graduate Community Service Chair - Katrina Eichner

Education Council Graduate Inter-school Relations Chair - Ariel Cornett

Education Council Graduate Scholarship and Professional Development Chair - Alexandra Aldridge

Education Council Graduate Social Chair - Rose Sebastian

Student Health Insurance Committee Representative - Faith Peddie

Nursing Student Council

Nursing Student Council President - Elizabeth Cox

Nursing Student Council Vice President - Nicole Jefferson

Nursing Student Council Secretary - Elizabeth Weller

Nursing Student Council Treasurer - Hannah Bolton

Nursing Student Council Social Committee Chair - No candidate

Batten Undergraduate Council

Batten Undergraduate Council President - Robert McCarthy

Batten Undergraduate Council Treasurer - Sahil Grover

Batten Undergraduate Council Director of Communications - No candidate

Batten Graduate Council

Batten Graduate Council President - Maggie Gratz

Batten Graduate Council Secretary - No candidate

Batten Graduate Council Treasurer - No candidate

Batten Graduate Council Special Events Chairs - Katherine Brandon

Batten Graduate Council Community Engagement Chair - Katie Kozlowski

Engineering Student Council

Engineering Council Fourth-Year Board President - Emma Kopf

Engineering Student Council President - Frances Morales

Engineering Student Council Vice President - Mary-Michael Robertson

Engineering Student Council Secretary - Trisha Sinha

Engineering Student Council Treasurer - Christina Kim

Commerce Council

Commerce Council President - Lauren Fogel

Commerce Council Vice President - Kimberly Flintsch Medina

Commerce Council Treasurer - Grace Zeng

College Council

College Council President - Emily Vaughan

College Council Vice President - Parker Moore

College Council Secretary - Shelby Slotter

College Council Treasurer - No candidate

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